( io ) 



O R D. V. G E N. II. GROUS. 



SPE. II. BLACK GROUS. 



PI. 134. 



Tetrao tetrix. Lin. Syft. I. p. 274. 



Coq de Bruyere a queue fourchue. Brif. Orn. I. p. 186. 



This fpecies is about the fize of a large fowl, being near two feet in length, 

 two feet nine inches in breadth, and weighing nearly four pounds. The bill is 

 black : the eye furrounded with a naked fcarlet fkin : the body is wholly of a 

 glofly blue black : the firft four quill feathers black, the next white at the bot- 

 tom, the lower half and tips of the fecondaries, the inner wing coverts, and 

 under tail coverts, white : thighs and legs dark brown : the tail feathers are 

 fixteen in number, the exteriour ones curving outwards, and the middle ones 

 being much ftiorter, fo as to make the tail appear forked : the toes pecti- 

 nated. 



The female is lefs in fize, and differs much in colour from the male. The 

 head and neck are marked with alternate bars of dull red and black : the breaft 

 with dufky, black, and white, but the laft predominates : the back, coverts of 

 the wings, and tail, are of the fame colours as the neck, but the red is deeper : 

 the inner webs of the quill feathers are mottled with black and white : the tail 

 is flightly forked, and confifts of eighteen feathers. 



The black grous is fufficiently common in all the northern parts of Great 

 Britain, but mod plentiful in Scotland and Wales, chiefly frequenting woody 

 and mountainous places. It lays its eggs in the fame manner as the preceding 

 fpecies, but feldom more than fix or eight at a time. See PI. XXX. Fig. 2. 



